Man cleared of subway double homicide in 2010 still having run-ins with the law

He beat a double-murder rap as a teen — and hasn't been able to stay out of trouble since.

An Upper West Side man cleared in 2010 of killing two men on a subway train was back in handcuffs last week for socking a 43-year-old stranger in the face at a Manhattan hospital.

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Brenddy Garcia, who made headlines nearly a decade ago at age 19 for fatally stabbing the pair of 24-year-olds on the No. 2 train near Christopher St. — then skating on the double homicide charges after claiming he acted in self-defense — was busted Thursday for hitting a man at Mount Sinai West hospital.

Garcia, 28, slugged the victim "about the face with a closed fist, causing swelling and substantial pain to (his) ear and face," according to the criminal complaint.

The suspect then allegedly tried to convince cops that his victim was on his side.

"What am I being arrested for?" he said, according to police and prosecutors. "That guy didn't want to press charges. The hospital is pressing him to do it."

Garcia was released without bail from Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday. The motive for the attack was not clear.

His first run-in with the law nine years ago ended in his favor after a grand jury decided Garcia's actions were justified after he said he'd been smashed in the head with a beer bottle by one of the the two stabbing victims.

Police believed an enraged Garcia went off on the doomed pair after victim Ricardo Williams, who was riding on the No. 2, accidentally hit him with a bag of garbage he was trying to toss in a trash can on the platform while the train doors were open, sources said at the time.

Witnesses told the DA's office that Garcia and two friends that were with him went up against a rowdy group that included Williams and second victim Darnell Morel.